As explained at the beginning of this chapter, this method doesn’t touch the NOOK’s built-in flash memory. Instead, you boot into the Android operating system from a microSD card and run the Android operating from there. When you want to run the NOOK as you would normally, turn the NOOK off, take out the card, and then turn it on again, and you’re running the normal NOOK software, with no muss and no fuss.
While it’s possible to create your own bootable microSD card to root your NOOK, there’s a much simpler solution: Buy a microSD card that already has the software installed on it. You need to buy a microSD card to root your NOOK anyway, and a microSD card with the rooting software already on it doesn’t cost much more. The company n2Acards (www.n2acards.com) offers reliable cards for both the NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color. The customer service is also exemplary.
The cards range in price from $34.99 to $79.99, depending on the amount of memory. An 8 GB card runs $34.99, a 16 GB card $49.99, and a 32 GB card $79.99. There are separate cards for the NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet, so make sure to choose the right one. As I write this, there was no card available that could root the 8GB version of the NOOK Tablet, but by the time you read this, it might be available.
When you boot from your microSD card, you also use the card to store your data, so it makes sense to buy a card with plenty of memory up front.
Once you buy the card, booting up the NOOK from it is a breeze. You follow the same instructions whether you’re rooting a NOOK Color or NOOK Tablet. Here’s what to do:
Turn off your NOOK.
Insert the microSD card with the rooting software into your NOOK’s microSD slot. See VividView Color Touchscreen for details.
Turn on your NOOK. After a short while you may see a screen that tells you to press a key if you want to go to a boot menu. Ignore that message. After a minute or so, you’ll see a screen with the N2A card logo. Wait for between 3 and 5 minutes while your NOOK loads the Android operating system.
When you see an arc-shaped bar, swipe it to the right, and tap Accept from the screen that appears. You now boot into Android. Voilà—instant Android tablet!
Booting into Android, though, is just the start of what you can do. You’ve got yourself a full-blown Android tablet, and can do pretty much anything you can with a tablet.
You first see a screen full of apps; tap any to run it. To see more apps, tap the small square toward the bottom of the screen, and the App tray appears, chockfull of even more apps. You’ll likely have the game Angry Birds on it already. And there’s also a NOOK app, so you can read your NOOK books using that app.
If you don’t see the NOOK eReader, or ever need to reinstall it, simply go to www.bn.com and type NOOK for Android in the search box. You’ll find a link for downloading the free software from the Android Market.
At the bottom of the screen, you see a series of icons. The house icon brings you back to the main Home screen. Just to the right of that is the Menu key; tap it to bring up a menu. It’s context-sensitive, so it displays different options depending on where you are. To the right of the Menu icon is an arrow icon—the Back button. And to the right of that is the magnifying-glass search button; tap it to search the Internet or your tablet.
Just to the right of the magnifying glass is an up arrow; tap it to display any alerts you may have.
For more help using your NOOK as an Android tablet, consider buying Motorola Xoom: The Missing Manual. Although that book is specifically for the Motorola Xoom tablet, the Xoom uses a basic Android operating system, similar to what you’ll see on the NOOK when you root it, so you may find much of it helpful.
Now that you’re familiar with the tablet, there are a few things you should do to really get the most out of it. First, you need to connect to a wireless network. Back on the Home screen, tap the “WiFi settings” icon. That shows you any wireless networks within range. Tap any to which you want to connect, fill in any required information such as user name and password (which you can get from the network’s owner), and you’ll connect.
To download apps, you have to get them from the Android Market. But you can’t do that quite yet; you need to take a few more steps first. First you need to add your Google account to the rooted NOOK (or else create a new one and add it to the NOOK). Here’s how:
On the Home screen, tap the Menu key and select Settings→Accounts & Sync.
At the bottom of the screen, tap “Add account.”
On the screen that appears, tap Google.
Follow the directions onscreen for adding an account. If you already have an account, tap “Sign in” when you get to the right screen. If you don’t have an account, tap Create.
You end up back on the screen where you first set up your Google account. At this point, you have access to your various Google services, such as Gmail and Google Calendar. Another thing that happens when you add a Google account: The Android Market is installed on your rooted NOOK. If you’re using a NOOK Tablet, you’re ready to use the market. But if you’re using a NOOK Color don’t try the Android Market yet; you’re not quite out of the woods. There are a few more steps you need to take:
On the Home screen, tap the Manage Apps icon.
On the top of the screen, tap the All tab. You see a list of the apps on your tablet.
Scroll down until you see Google Services Framework. Tap it.
On the screen that appears, tap “Clear data,” and then tap OK.
Tap the Back button at the bottom of the screen. You come to the list of apps again.
Scroll down to the Market icon and tap it. On the screen that appears, tap “Clear data,” and then tap OK, exactly as you did before.
Hold down the NOOK’s power button and select reboot from the screen that appears. Make sure you don’t remove the microSD card.
The NOOK reboots back into Android, and you can then use the Market to download apps. Tap the Market icon on the Home screen.
Your rooted NOOK has the same software but not the same hardware as many other Android tablets—for example, there’s no GPS. So you may not be able to use all the apps normally written for Android tablets. And your rooted NOOK also isn’t a phone, so you don’t get to use the various phone features of many Android apps.
When you use the rooted NOOK as a tablet, the apps that come with Android (like the Contacts app), and any apps you download, along with all the data in those apps, is downloaded to the microSD card in your NOOK, not into the NOOK’s main memory. So when you boot back into your normal NOOK, you won’t have access to all those apps and that data. The apps disappear, the contacts disappear, and so on. That’s why you should consider buying as large a capacity microSD card as you can afford.
When you want to use your NOOK again as a normal NOOK, press the power button, and from the screen that appears, select Power Off. Then remove the microSD card and start up your NOOK as you would normally. You’ll be back with your familiar friend.